


gone fishin'

by thepointsdonotmatter



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Dark Will, Dark Will Graham, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Finale, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-23
Packaged: 2019-06-10 16:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15295494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thepointsdonotmatter/pseuds/thepointsdonotmatter
Summary: I never realized there was a season 3 epilogue deleted scene until yesterday. After I watched it, I knew I had to write something about it - about how Will and Hannibal came to sit side-by-side in that chapel, at peace; and about Jack, in the same chapel, but alone.





	1. Chapter 1

They found Dolarhyde soon enough, splayed out where he had died looking up at the sky. Jack's team bore down, working through the night. Jack let the feeling of the situation take root in his mind. He was aware he stood at the foot of a massive, coiled beast. 

Zeller and Price were inside the house and looked up when he entered. Jack motioned for them to continue and watched as they catalogued the broken glass, the wine. 

Of the camera nestled in the tripod, Jack asked, "anything recorded?" 

"Looks like he was interrupted before he could start." 

And yet, Hannibal had spilt blood. Jack could see drops on the carpet where the camera was pointed toward. He turned around, looked out to where the carnage ended. To what extent had Will been wounded, as well? Dolarhyde did not succumb easily. They would confirm this all –reenact the crime – in the lab, but Jack's mind ran ahead, unleashed. 

There were a few patrol cars remaining on standby, their lights sickly against the dark air. Jack made his way to the edge of the bluff. 

He heard silence first, then the waves embracing each other below, a ruinous sound. 

\-- 

There were no funerals. Hannibal and Will were neither alive, nor dead – just gone. Daily life folded over the cracks uneasily. New lecturers and trainees and psychiatrists were hired, and the masses kept murdering each other. The Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane remained agnostic as to who its cells held. Maybe Jack was supposed to write this off as a clean slate. The FBI certainly wanted him to.

No. This was the space in between movements of those classical pieces Hannibal adored. 

Once, Will had gone to the symphony with Hannibal. Jack remembered overhearing about it as they stood at a crime scene. Back then, Will still called him Dr. Lecter. 

_I appreciated your company last night, Will._

_Even when I stood up at the end and realized I got dog hairs all over the seat?_

_Especially so._

_The corner of Will's mouth twitched upward._

_Last night was a closed loop, Will. Classical music is never a repetition; every time a piece is played, it lives for the first time, each tone and sensation re-created. No one will hear this same performance again._

The memory floated up, unbidden. It was Jack's birthday. There was an envelope in his mail with exquisite penmanship.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack, 

I have comforting recollections of this time of year in Baltimore. There is a richness in the air and a give in the soil. The poet Mahmoud Darwish once wrote – 

March is a month of storms and lust.  
Spring looks on, like a thought between two people,  
between a long winter and a long summer.  
Sunset brings the stranger back  
to his well, like a song that is not sung.  
Sunset stirs up in us longing for an obscure passion. 

I can't help but indulge my nostalgia. The first year we made each other's acquaintance, on this same day, I cooked you short ribs in an ice-filtered beer broth, with pickled vegetables and shiitake tea. 

I wish you many happy returns. 

__

\-- 

Chilton's office at the hospital was well-adorned, almost gaudy. The skin grafts had held, over time, over repeats. He only looked slightly horrific. There was a smudge of foundation makeup on his collar that Jack pointedly did not linger on. 

He handed him the letter. Chilton read it dispassionately, then said, "and you wonder if Will is with him." 

"I don't have to wonder," Jack said. "This is – gloating." 

"You've always been a man of action," Chilton said. "Luckily, I myself never acquired the taste for traveling in Europe. I won't miss it." 

Still, something wary had already rooted itself into his posture. Jack was reminded of Hannibal's influence, from across the ocean. He stood. "Just do me a favor and ensure the hospital is staffed and ready when I return." 

Chilton did not walk him to the door, but his voice nicked him in his back. "This is their life you'll be intruding on. He will welcome you in, entertain you, even, but there will be a moment where he will slip the snare on you, soundlessly, and with intent." 

Jack smiled. "You talking about Hannibal or Will?" 

He left before Chilton could answer. 

\-- 

Jack dreamt on the plane. He dreamt he was in Florence again, and Hannibal was a crumpled shape, crawling in the glass. There was blood rushing up from the floor, soaking his shoes, his ankles. 

_You're just a fading psychopath_ , Jack told him. _Time has marred you._

He grabbed Hannibal's arm and prepared to break it again. Hannibal looked up, then, like Jack had just thrown a clever quip across the dinner table. 

_Not all of us_ , Hannibal said easily. 

Jack turned his head – too late – Will had sleekly emerged as if he was cut from the fold of the shadows, knife glinting in his hand. Jack felt his belly open up and he fell forward. A long groan escaped from him and would not stop. Hannibal was standing, suddenly immaculate in a three-piece suit, his hair gelled back. Will came around. His face was closed off. 

_It's good to see you again, Jack._

Move, move, move. But Jack's body refused to move. He watched Will hand the knife to Hannibal, watched him wipe off a streak of red from Hannibal's cheek with a gloved thumb— 

He woke before he was killed. He stayed awake for the rest of the flight.


End file.
